How the energy sector can lead the way in ethical data use

“The future will be energy traded in small communities” according to Lorena Skiljan, chief executive of Hackabu.

And she added that this change would be enabled by technology,
particularly blockchain.

Speaking at European Utility Week in Paris, she said that
customers of conglomerates such as Facebook, Alphabet
and Amazon were now wary about how their data was harvested and used.

“We are at a point where all kinds of data have been
collected and it’s all behind a wall, in a blackbox. Is this okay for each of our
rights? Is it okay that our data is used this way?

She said the energy sector could offer a new way to use data
in an ethical way.

“In energy, the moment of change is now. We realise that it
is possible to do energy in a new decentralized, democratized way.”

She said that the rise of renewables had enabled energy to
become more decentralized, yet the energy system was still largely centralized.

“The future will be energy traded in small communities. Each
year there is more and more installed capacity that’s invisible to the big
energy players. In the future, utilities will act as partners of democratic
energy systems and these systems will be collaborative and digitized.”

But for utilities to play this role she said that they “will
have to reinvent themselves”.

And she added that blockchain “will enable us to roll out
this business model. It is fostering transparency and trust. Together with
artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, it will enable the way for
the next generation of utilities.”